Ruminations and ponderings by the Last of the Montgomery Rebels Fans on the Montgomery Biscuits and Montgomery Alabama area baseball history.

Sunday, June 1, 2014

Biscuits Owner puts foot in mouth, Guevara Returns

The Return of Hector Guevara

It happened quickly.
Riccio Torrez decided a seven game losing streak was the last straw on the back of the camel that carried his big league hopes. Torrez hung up the spikes, cleared his locker and headed home to the ranch.

The Biscuits were without an infielder to start the ten game homestand.

Seitzer, Shortstop

Cameron Seitzer played shortstop.

He handled his chances cleanly, a six-three putout was his first game action at short. Later he would field a grounder and step on second base to get the force out as he threw to first in a double play attempt.

He had no hope of getting the runner at first, but he threw a 95 mile an hour missile to first in his exuberance - nearly taking 1B Jeff Malm's arm off at the shoulder to complete the fielders choice.

A roster spot open, a phone call already made.

Hector Guevara is a Biscuit.
Again.

The Venezuelan utility infielder was a Skit last summer, batting .230 with two steals in 34 games.

Hector will worry about what he is arriving to, last time his promotion brought him into a heated series and he took a beanball in his very first double-A at bat.

Welcome to the team, Hector

BUT WHY?
Here in Montgomery, fans should be wondering why we are getting Hector.
Like so many of the previous promotions in recent years, we see the parent club send us less of what we need and more of what can be termed "roster filler".

Guevara is a decent guy, I have no beef about him, but we have to look at the numbers.

At Charlotte, Guevara is hitting .204, just 19 hits in 24 games with one stolen base. Sure, Hector plays three infield positions, Shortstop, second base and third base, but his career fielding percentage is just .962 and already he has more errors this year than he did all of last year.

How does a guy hitting .204 on his way to a career high in miscues get promoted?

WHO ELSE IS THERE?Overlooked in the promotion to replace 24 year old
Riccio Torrez is 24 year old Leonardo Reginatto.

Leo plays the same Shortstop, Second base and third base, is hitting .339 with 11 stolen bases in the Florida State League. Sure, hes been liable to make errors for the Crabs with 13 already this year, but he would seem to have the stats to warrant promotion.

How about Pat Blair down in Bowling Green, hitting .275 with two homers and twenty RBI in 45 games at shortstop. Blair is 23 years old and a collegiate out of Wake Forest, likely enough experience to make the jump over a level. Bowling Green has two Shortstops on their roster, they might survive with just one with Blair promoted.

Other than the fact that he was here last year and knows how to find the ballpark, I don't see alot of help coming from the Hector Guevara promotion.

HOW NOT TO ENDEAR YOURSELF TO THE FANS

I don't usually flat out complain about the Biscuits owner Sherry Myers, but sometimes she says or does something that sticks out more awkwardly than her frontward-facing fanny pack.

In a newly published interview with a writer covering sports logos, Sherry makes it obvious what she thinks about the people she wants to support the team.

The rest of us...

I was always taught to be inclusive, not to draw verbal lines excluding people or putting myself above or apart from others. I find this to be a continuing trend of Biscuits ownership putting down the fans of the team and the people of Alabama as a whole.

Tolerance and honesty go a long way in building trust, qualities that we have often been disappointed in where Biscuits ownership is concerned. If Sherry Myers doesn't want to be seen as a carpetbagger, she should learn to stop putting down southerners.

Even MLB owners have had serious backlash for their personal biases when they affect the bottom line and start causing bigger problems for the league as everyone realizes the bigotry and hatred they harbor.

Its not like female baseball owners have the best reputation to begin with, she should be careful with the stereotypes she uses or risk being one herself.